Flue

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /fluː/

Definitions

1. A tube or channel that carries smoke or other gases away from a heating unit is critical for safe operation
2. A passage or duct in a chimney that directs smoke and combustion gases outside a building
3. A conduit allowing smoke, fumes, or hot air to exit from a fireplace, furnace, or stove

Etymology: The noun "flue" for a chimney passage began as something blown rather than something smoked. In Middle English it named the mouthpiece of a hunting horn, the part a hunter pressed to his lips, and only later did the sense widen to any narrow channel that carried air or smoke. The word's exact origin is unresolved. One proposal treats it as a back-formation from a supposed plural "flews," read as if it were plural, which would link it to Old English "flēwsa," meaning a flow or flux. Another suggests it is an alteration of the Middle English "floute" or "fleute," meaning a pipe, which would tie it to "flute." Both routes point to the same idea: a narrow tube through which something moves. The connection to "flute" is worth noting because the two words share that core notion of a hollow passage that channels breath or air. Middle Dutch "vloegh," meaning a groove or channel, shows the same sense of a narrow cut or conduit.

Synonyms: duct